Shifting support for the Integrated Justice Center
The Justice Center, originally founded in 1995, and later strengthened with European Union and German funding, worked to gain the trust of coca growers and effectively documented human rights violations. In 1997, the Ministry of Justice opened four additional branch human rights offices in the region. The election of ex-dictator Hugo Banzer led to political interference in the offices’ operation, and the resignation of its founder, Godofredo Reinicke. The EU and others subsequently withdrew funding. The one remaining office in Chimoré became the Justice Center.
USAID began to fund the office in 1999, in spite of conflict of interest concerns voiced by human rights monitors and doubts expressed by USAID contractors. Although the office employed a forensic doctor who emitted autopsy and medical certificates – essential evidence for the prosecution of human rights violators – the Ministry of Justice blocked access to these documents until the Mesa administration in 2004. US embassy officials told AIN that they could not pressure Ministry of Justice officials to release the documents because it would be “a violation of national sovereignty.”
Coca growers, infuriated by the office’s lack of transparency and what they called US funding of “the human rights abuses by military eradicators and superficial investigations,” argued that if the US stopped funding the military to carry out forced eradication, there would no need for the office to exist. On one occasion coca growers even temporarily detained office personnel after an autopsy because they felt that a report was useless if it could not be used for prosecution.
The halt of coca-related violence in the Chapare led to a renewed acceptance of the Justice Center. With the granting of the cato (1600 m2 of legal coca) and the end of gross human rights violations during eradication in the region, the office began to more successfully serve the population’s legal needs, although these services had already been part of the Center’s mandate for several years. As a result, Chapare residents’ acceptance of the Center increased, in spite of their continued rejection of USAID alternative development programs.
Chimoré: the Centro de Justicia is still in operation, still clearly identified as a USAID project. August 2008.
No problems or protest at the Justice Center
A representative of the Justice Center affirmed there have been no problems since the ‘exit’ of USAID from the region, and that they have not been asked to close. Cocaleros painted over USAID alternative development signs to demonstrate their rejection of the programs. They perceived the signs as symbols of repeated exaggeration of these initiatives’ positive impact by US officials and previous Bolivian administrations. They clearly differentiated the justice center from these initiatives, and, as a result, the Center’s sign remains. This office continues to receive clients –150 in the 3 weeks prior to this investigation1 — and the community still demands the services offered including public defense, relationship seminars, and educational support.
The center currently has no plans to close; indeed, it is scheduled to expand services and personnel in the near future. USAID continues to support the office and has promised continue funding. This information suggests that accounts of aggression and a total rejection of USAID in the Chapare were exaggerated. As discussed in a previous AIN memo, the rejection of USAID was largely symbolic as alternative development funding had already been moved to the Yungas and the Chapare was beginning to receive increased, unconditional funding from sources such as the European Union and Venezuela. For example, on August 19, the Villa Tunari Municipal government signed agreements with the Bolivian government development agency, FONADAL, funded by the European Union, to carry out eleven infrastructure projects. The municipality’s mayor complained that past USAID contractors marginalized local governments’ direct participation in these projects, and only accepted their local counterpart payment. He affirmed that Chapare municipalities planned to directly carry out these new initiatives.2
US Official missed the message and the need for change
Unfortunately some U.S. officials failed to recognize the catalyst of coca growers’ rejection of alternative development. On August 12, David Johnson, the Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, reiterated a common misconception. In reference to the rejection of USAID alternative development in the Chapare, he affirmed, "We don’t believe that this type of action should be based on the decisions of private groups [coca growers]; this is a topic to be dealt with between governments.” 3 His comments highlight a continued vision of development which excludes input and direct engagement of programs’ supposed “beneficiaries.” Within this continued context, it is not surprising that coca growing families resorted to overt actions in June to make their discontent known. Funding based on community needs rather than foreign policy is certainly better received and has a greater impact. US development efforts are more effective in addressing these needs when they collaborate with communities to create and implement programs. U.S. planners and policymakers should view the decision to stop working with USAID alternative development projects as a unique opportunity to reevaluate the focus and impact of U.S. development efforts to design more effective initiatives in conjunction with the communities affected by the projects, instead of insisting on old models and lamenting recurring impasses.
Villa Tunari : An old USAID sign at the town’s entrance painted over with the words “Vila Tunari, USAID-free Territory.” (Note that the untouched sign on the right which still carries the name of the European Union development initiative, “PRAEDAC,” that concluded in 2006). August 2008.
*Erin Hatheway, AIN Researcher, contributed to this report.
1 According to a report AIN was shown by the Justice Center official.
2 “Alcaldía de Villa Tunari y Fonadal ejecutarán 11 proyectos de desarrollo.” Opinión. August 20, 2008.
3 “Alcaldía de Villa Tunari y Fonadal ejecutarán 11 proyectos de desarrollo.” Opinión. August 20, 2008.